


A Day To Remember

by Birbliophile



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Birthday, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 16:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13767708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Birbliophile/pseuds/Birbliophile
Summary: Lance's birthday is nigh upon the Voltron crew, and Keith is enlisted to distract said blue paladin while a surprise party is prepared. Can be read as platonic or romantic. Minor hint of angst.





	A Day To Remember

**Author's Note:**

  * For [udonudon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/udonudon/gifts).



> First fanfic I ever wrote, dedicated to a dear friend of mine. Thanks for being an amazing inspiration and fellow Voltron fan, you're simply wonderful!

“Alright,” Hunk said, clapping his hands together. “Do you know why I called all you guys here?”

Pidge yawned. “Hunk...you literally dragged us all out of bed five freaking minutes ago, so that’s a no.”

Hunk laughed sheepishly. “Right, sorry about that.”

Shiro shook his head. “Pidge was probably already awake when you went to get her. She spends her nights working the computer when she’s supposed to be _asleep_.” He looked pointedly at the  fifteen-year old.

“Wha-Shiro I wasn’t-”

“We’ll talk about it later,” the Black Paladin replied. “Hunk, please continue. Is there something you need help with?”

Seated on Pidge’s left, Keith frowned. “Hold on a second, where’s Lance?”

Allura yawned as she gently petted a mouse nestled in the folds of her nightgown. “Oh, yes I noticed that too. Any particular reason why the Blue Paladin is not joining us presently? Or why Hunk has decided to gather us all at such an odd time, when we really should be asleep?”

Coran nodded sagely. “You should always be well rested in the case of an enemy attack!” he declared enthusiastically. Of the four humans and two Alteans present, he seemed not the least bit tired, considering.

“Okay, okay I’ll cut to the point,” Hunk said. “Lance’s birthday is today!”

“Wh-” Pidge started in surprise, almost falling off of the couch. “What? Seriously? How come he hasn’t been hounding us for the past month about it then?”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, the guy loves himself so much you’d think he’d remind us daily.”

Hunk shook his head. “I don’t think he’s noticed how much time we’ve spent out here in space,” he admitted. “And to be completely honest, I forgot too. I only just figured it out yesterday when I got curious as to what day it would be back on Earth and calculated it using the Castle’s calendar log.”

“So why are we gathered to discuss the anniversary of Lance’s birth without...Lance?” Coran asked, genuinely perplexed. “Lance has been so excited for the celebrations we’ve had for the birth-anniversaries of you, Shiro, and Pidge, I’m sure he’d love to be a part of the planning for his own!!!”

“Nonononono, that’s why he isn’t here,” Hunk said in a low, conspiring tone. “If Lance himself has forgotten his own birthday, we’ve been presented with the best opportunity ever!”

Pidge’s eyes widened from behind thick round glasses. “You don’t mean-”

“Yeah!!!”

“A SURPRISE PARTY!!!” the two of them cheered. Shiro stood up.

“Whoa, hey now, wouldn’t want to wake Lance would we?”

The two paladins grinned sheepishly.

“Sorry!” Pidge said softly. “It’s just, Matt would always have the best surprises on my birthday…” her voice quivered slightly and she suddenly seemed very interested in the sleek glossy floor of the Castle rec room. Shiro gently put his hand on her shoulder.

“I’m okay,” she assured him. “But we’ve got to make this Lance’s best birthday yet!”

Allura clapped her hands enthusiastically. “A surprise celebration! How exciting! I’m sure Lance will love it!”

Keith frowned. “How do you guys expect to get everything ready in five days without him noticing? Forget that, where are you going to get presents from? We’re miles from civilization out here, and if we make a jump to a planet to go shopping, you know he’s going to ask questions. Last time we all knew what was going on at least.”

Coran twirled his mustache elegantly. “Keith my boy, you underestimate us all. To the party closet!” The elder Altean sprinted out of the room to the surprise of many.

Allura sighed. “It’s where the royal Altean family kept the decorations for our galas and balls when not in use. It’s where we found the adornments for the other parties we’ve had.”

“That makes way more sense than Lance’s theory,” Pidge nodded. “He was convinced you guys had some sort of party machine that churned out balloons and stuff.”

* * *

“But why do _I_ have to do it? Hunk’s his best friend right?”

“Keith please,” Pidge scoffed. “If you challenged him to a sparring match Lance wouldn’t hesitate for a tick.” She was balanced on Hunk’s shoulders to reach a box of decorations in the Party Closet, more like a gallery than a closet, to be honest. The room was filled with gorgeous streamers, lanterns, and tapestries in all the colors of the rainbow.

“Therefore,” Hunk concluded, “You’re the perfect candidate to distract Lance for the day while we get things ready. He’ll be too busy focused on defeating you to suspect that anything else is going on!”

“Hunk watch it!” When the yellow paladin had turned to speak to Keith, Pidge tilted back under the weight of the box she had been pulling out and out tumbled a rolled up tapestry.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “And if he does beat me? Lance may be a lot of talk, but he’s actually pretty good in battle, if you haven’t noticed.”

Pidge waved him off. “So are you. If he beats you just challenge him to a rematch or something, he’ll take the bait. We’ll come get you when we’re done here.”

Keith sighed as Hunk shooed him out of the party closet and towards the dining room.

“We owe you one Keith!” the yellow paladin said cheerfully.

* * *

Lance lifted his head abruptly from his breakfast of green space goo upon Keith’s entrance.

“Keith! Where _is_ everyone?”

Keith stopped short, mind searching for a plausible answer.

“Uhh..everyone decided to get up really early to do...stuff. Allura and Coran are...doing things...with the Castle. Yes. And Shiro is...with the lions?”

Lance swallowed another spoonful of green goo, one eyebrow raised. “Okay. What about Pidge and Hunk?”

“Pidge said she was going to be working on...tech stuff. And Hunk is helping her.”

Lance pushed his chair back and stood up. “Well I’m going to go check on them, they probably miss having me around,” he said, flashing a smile.

“Uh, about that,” Keith said quickly. “I was going to, um, head to the training room for some...training. And, I was wondering if you’d...want to join me?”

Lance tilted his head to the side. “Why would you of all people want me to - oh. Oh I see, you want to get back at me for last time, don’t you?” He smirked.

“Well...uh, yeah! That was totally unfair, knocking me down with the back of your shield like that!”

“Oh ho ho, the samurai wants another shot at taking down the Tailor! Well alright then, first one to the training room is a rotten pile of space goo!” And with that, the blue paladin flew past Keith into the hallway as if he was running from a robeast. Keith faltered for a split second, then after shaking his head in annoyance dashed after his teammate.

“Nobody calls you the Tailor!”

“They should!”

* * *

“Nice try, but you still can’t catch me!” Lance called out as he avoided each slash of Keith’s bayard, sprinting across the arena and firing his own bayard at the red paladin, who blocked it with a shield.

Keith rolled his eyes and feinted left, then when the other teen moved back, spun around and knocked the blue bayard from his grip by pushing the flat edge of the red sword down. Lance tumbled to the ground and glared up at Keith.

“The Galra won’t be as light on you,” Keith reminded him with a small smirk, reaching out his hand to help Lance up.

Lance scoffed. “You _are_ Galra, and you caught me off guard!” Seeing Keith flinch, he stammered, “Oh nonononono, I didn’t mean it that way dude!”

Keith sighed. “It’s okay.”

“No really, I’m so-”

“It’s fine.” Keith’s empty hand momentarily curled into a tight fist.

“Yeah but I shouldn’t have-” Lance moved as if to put a hand on his shoulder. Keith clenched his teeth.

“It’s fine Lance just- just shut up!” Keith’s voice wavered slightly on the end of his outburst while he jerked his head away from Lance.

Lance fell silent, pulling his outstretched arm back.

Keith took a few deep breaths, then sat down on the floor of the training room, still looking away from Lance.

“I...I think I’ll go see where Hunk is.” Lance said quietly. “Catch you later man.”

Lance had already taken a few steps into the hallway when Keith remembered the task he was currently failing to perform.

“Lance wait,”

Lance looked back at the red paladin, who was sitting upright and looking at him with a sort of tired expression.

“Yeah?”

“Could we maybe...? Uh, that is, I don’t think I’ve trained enough today, and who knows? Maybe you’ll come close to beating me again.”

A wide smile spread across Lance’s face.

“I’d gladly take you on anytime samurai, but I think we deserve a break, don’t you? Why don’t we do something else?”

Keith blinked. “Uh. What do you mean, something else?”

“You know, something fun! What does the emo paladin want to do for fun?”

Keith frowned, pointing to himself. “I’m the emo one?”

Lance looked at him pointedly.

“I don’t know, I mean fighting’s kind of ‘fun,’ I guess. I’m not exactly a fun guy, Lance.”

Lance grinned. “Aw come on, let’s go down to the pool.”

“But it’s upside down.”

“Allura showed me how to deal with the trippy anti-gravity stuff, we’ll be fine. Besides, what could be more fun than a few laps around a royal space pool?”

Keith shrugged. This would keep Lance occupied for some time, he supposed.

* * *

 

“Wow, I’d really forgotten what being in a pool was like,” Keith remarked.

“Ah, water,” Lance sighed, sinking (or was it rising? Keith wasn't too sure) into the pool up to his neck.  “My natural habitat. You know I was the best swimmer on the team at my junior high?”

“I think I remember you bragging about that last week, yeah.”

“Well it’s true,” Lance declared proudly.

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Okay. Three laps, breaststroke. Let’s see who’s faster.”

Lance’s eyes brightened. “Oh it is on, Mullet Head!”

The two teens pulled themselves out of the water and stood at the pool’s edge. On Lance’s count, they dove into the water on three and began breaststroking around the edge of the pool.

Lance had an excellent start, pulling a full length ahead of Keith within the first fifteen seconds. Not about to be outdone, Keith pumped his arms forward, steadily gaining on Lance until he was almost matched with the other teen. Still he was unable to catch up as they made a turn on the third lap. Keith decided then that if he couldn’t beat Lance, there was another way to get back at him.

Lance surfaced with a resounding victory cheer.

“Oh yeah! The blue paladin is victorious! How was that for a race, Mullet Head?”

 

Lance glanced to his left, but the red paladin wasn’t there. His brow furrowed in confusion.

“Keith? Where-”

Suddenly the paladin so named launched out of the water behind Lance and dunked him face first into the water with a screeching battle cry.

Lance’s yell was caught off by a blurbling sound and he knocked Keith back, spluttering like crazy as he came up for air. Keith couldn’t contain his laughter.

“Oh man, oh I’m so sorry, you okay?”

Lance glared at Keith. “Dude, really?”

Keith put his hands up defensively. “Aww, I’m sorry, I meant to just splash you, no big de-”

Suddenly Lance splashed Keith directly in the face. The red paladin blinked as water streamed down the sides of his head.

“Heh, like that?” Lance grinned.

Keith’s smirked back, a mischievous glint in his eye.

The next ten minutes turned into a free for all water war.

* * *

Keith felt Lance stare at him as he began to pull his shirt over a quickly dried mass of dark hair.

“What?”

“You’re just going to dry and that’s it?” Lance seemed almost incredulous. Keith frowned.

“Yeah...what else would I do?”

Lance sighed and put a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “My friend, you are about to get a full education from the Lance McClain School of Beauty, Skin Care, and Pampered Living!”

Keith stared at his fellow paladin with a look of utmost confusion as he dragged Keith down the hall towards another room.

Minutes later the red paladin found himself sitting patiently as Lance smeared a strange, fruity smelling cream on his face.

“Lance what is this stuff?”

“It’s an Altean facial mask, you poor, dry-skinned ninja mullet boy. Ack, don’t touch it! Now put on the bathrobe, we are going to relax like no paladins have ever relaxed before.

“Why am I letting you talk me into this?” Keith sighed.

“Because your skin is horrendous. Now relaaaaaax.” Lance gestured to a seat, settling into one himself. The two were in some sort of theater, or as far as Keith could tell, it was some sort of royal Altean cinema. It seemed as if Lance knew more about the Castle than Keith did, that was for sure. As he settled in next to Lance, Keith wondered what was keeping the others.

“Check this out,” Lance smiled and hit a button on the side of his chair. Suddenly the blank wall they had been facing dissolved away and the boys were treated to a spectacular view of the space outside the Castle.

Though Keith had seen space at least a billion times since the Blue Lion carried them all out to Arus, something about this view seemed absolutely magical.

“Never gets old, am I right?”

Keith nodded, sighing contentedly. “You’re right.”

They spent a few minutes in silence, looking out into the dark expanse of space. Keith looked over at his companion, who was smiling softly. He had thought that distracting Lance would be annoying, almost unbearable. But it seemed that the entire day, Lance had been the one distracting him, or rather, not distracting but he had definitely been the one to suggest most of these activities.

“Hey, Lance?”

“Yeah man?”

“Thanks...I had a pretty good time today.”

Lance grinned. “Me too...I actually haven’t done all of this with anyone else before.”

Keith’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Hunk’s a pretty flexible guy, but when we’re hanging out he likes to cook, so we do that instead. It’s pretty fun, so I don’t mind. And Pidge prefers programming to pampering.”

Lance looked Keith directly in the eyes. “It was really cool hanging out with you today Keith. You’re actually a pretty awesome guy.”

Keith blinked. “You. Lance McClain. Think I’m awesome? What’s next, a marriage proposal?”

Lance laughed. “Aw come on, I know you don’t hate me. You had fun too.”

Keith sighed and let a small smile spread across his face. “Yeah. I did.”

Suddenly Allura’s voice sounded over the Castle intercoms.

“Keith, would you please bring Lance to the Recreation Room? We are ready for you.”

Lance quirked his eyebrow. “What’s that all about?”

Keith shrugged innocently. “Guess we should head up now.”

* * *

“SURPRISE!!!”

“Oh my gosh, you guys, what??!!” Lance looked ecstatic. Keith had to admit, he was impressed with the way the team had decorated the rec room. Blue and white streamers hung from the walls, above large tapestries depicting the Blue Lion in all her glory. A banner across the room read “HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY LANCE” in shimmering blue paint. From her perch on a shelf high above, Pidge activated a large confetti cannon that spewed little bits of shiny ribbon over Lance as he entered, beaming. Shiro and Coran stood in front of a table covered with a very royal looking cloth with five beautifully wrapped packages stacked neatly on top. Hunk and Allura held between them a platter with a large, oddly tropical looking cake resting on it, which was topped with a tiny blue lion shaped cookie.

Keith couldn't help but grin himself seeing Lance react to the scene before them.

“Oh, man! I completely forgot that me turning seventeen was, like, a thing!” Lance exclaimed as Allura delicately placed a tiara on his head.

“Today, _you_ are the princess! Er, prince,” she said, smiling. Lance grinned back.

“Why thank you, Lady Allura. I’m just...wow! You guys are the best!”

“Come on and open your presents, Lance.” Shiro invited. The black paladin’s normally tired face looked pleased to see his teammate so happy. “Coran did a great job wrapping them.”

Coran twirled his mustache proudly. “I’ve wrapped thousands of packages for the royal family in my day!”

Keith froze. Present? He didn’t...oh no.

Lance sat down and took the first gift, eagerly ripping off the yellow, polka-dotted wrapping paper. Inside was a booklet full of multicolored papers that had Hunk’s handwriting spelling out phrases such as “Good for twelve free hugs,” and “Good for one batch of cookies.”

“Aww, Hunk! Thanks!!!” Lance hugged the yellow paladin.

“Coupon book,” Hunk said to a confused Allura. “My moms love them too.”

As Keith began to ask himself whether a knife wrapped in a jacket would be an appropriate present, Lance received a jeweled necklace, a photo album of team Voltron, an Altean mug that had “Best Blue Paladin” written on it in shaky handwriting, and a small metal sphere that floated around telling the time and measuring his vitals, from Allura, Coran, Shiro, and Pidge respectively. Lance met each of these gifts with an energetic thank you and a warm hug.

“You know,” Lance said as he playfully tossed wrapping paper at Pidge, “All of these are absolutely amazing, and I love you guys for everything, but you want to know my favorite present?”

Keith sighed and opened his mouth to apologize.

“Keith’s.”

Keith choked, the apology stuck in his throat. “Wh-what?”

Lance stood up and enveloped the red paladin in a crushing embrace. “I had the best day of my life with old mullet boy. Thanks Keith.”

Keith stood in shock for a second, then awkwardly brought his arms around Lance. “You’re welcome, Lance.”

Lance pulled back and turned to the rest of the team. “Now let’s dig into that cake of yours, Hunk!”


End file.
